


Loose Ember

by Eccosong



Series: Eggshell Reflections [2]
Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:54:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29811507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eccosong/pseuds/Eccosong
Summary: Turtle has to look after Peril's dragonet for the day, what should be simple and easy ends up not.
Relationships: Clay/Peril (Wings of Fire), Peril & Turtle (Wings of Fire)
Series: Eggshell Reflections [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2191377
Kudos: 8





	Loose Ember

"Turtle, take that rock and bash my head in please." Peril moaned pitifully from the floor. "End my suffering." 

Turtle watched his best friend where she lay on the floor of the den, shivering. It hurt to see her like this, but there wasn't much he could do in this situation. The tiny Skywing dragonet sitting at a safe distance beside her looked up at him. "Momma's been like this all mornin unca Turtle." Ember said.

"Clay told me you were sick, but he said you'd be fine after some rest." Turtle said trying to sound reassuring, Peril wasn't too badly ill. At least, that's what Clay had told him when the Mudwing had asked him to look after Ember for a bit. 

"No Turtle, I don't get sick. I'm dying." Peril groaned "It must be poison." 

"It'd have to be in your food, and the only dragon's who could possibly poison that are Clay and Siamang." Turtle said laughing. 

"It was Siamang then, She killed me. Ember sweetie, avenge momma." 

"Yes, Momma." Ember piped up, jumping to all fours and breathing out the tiniest flame Turtle had ever seen. Turtle gently picked up the little dragonet.

"Peril isn't gonna need avenging, little matchstick." Peril said, holding Ember close, only slightly prepared for the dragonet to try to wrap his limbs around his neck in a hug. 

"I know, unca Turtle. Momma just bein silly." Ember giggled letting go so Turtle could set him back down.

"You two gonna be ok?" Peril asked, looking up at Turtle again. 

Turtle gave her the most incredulous look he was capable of. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that." 

Peril glared at him and was about to respond before she rocked back and began to sneeze, once, twice, three times before it ended. 

"Peril get some rest, me and Ember will be fine, we'll probably just go to the Prey Center and see if the matchstick can eat a whole cow." 

"Sleep momma." Ember chimed in mustering all the authority his little body could grant him. 

Peril curled in on herself slightly and closed her eyes. "Alright, I'll see you two later then." 

"No you won't, because you'll be sleeping." Turtle said as he ushered Ember out of the den, the pair of them making their way through the caves on their way to the Prey Center. 

They were almost to the Prey Center, passing other dragons every once and awhile, Ember humming a little song that Turtle didn't recognise. "So do you feel up to trying fish again?" Turtle asked. 

"Ick, no, fish slimy." Ember said made a face that caused Turtle to laugh. The last time he had looked after Ember he had given the dragonet an eel to eat, and it seemed he hadn't yet recovered from the experience. 

"Wanna hunt a Cow then?"

"Yeah, wanna be like daddy, eat a whole cow." Ember got low to the floor and started stalking forward, while he probably thought he looked like a dangerous predator, all Turtle could think was how adorable he looked. They were at the entrance to the Prey Center, Turtle could hear the commotion within, when he realized he hadn't heard anything from Ember for a moment. He looked back expecting to see the dragonet still following him, stalking low to the ground. Except there was nothing there, no stalking dragonet, no happy little Skywing bouncing in place. Ember wasn't there, he'd lost Ember. 

Peril was going to kill him. 

* * *

Ember wasn't quite sure where he was anymore. He'd lost uncle Turtle at some point and was now aimlessly wandering a cave tunnel he simply didn't recognise. And he was hungry. He hadn't seen any other dragons yet, which was disappointing but not unexpected. If he could find one of the students, preferably one that wasn't afraid of momma, he could get them to help him find Turtle and then could eat something. He just seemed to be alone down here however. 

He walked for what felt to him like forever before he finally heard something, He couldn't make it out but he could hear what sounded like voices coming from one of the nearby caves. He followed the voices as they echoed down the cavern tunnels until he found the source. Sitting at the lip of what was probably one of the sleeping caves was a pair of dragons. One was a Mudwing he didn't recognise, smaller than his dad, with dull brown scales. The other was a Rainwing with mottled violet scales in various shades that he actually recognised. Siamang was one of his mothers friends, not as close as uncle Turtle, but a welcome sight nonetheless. 

"So, Peregrine's hatchingday is in like, three days, should we get him something?" Siamang asked. 

"I like that idea, but I wouldn't have the foggiest idea what to get hi-" the Mudwing stopped talking as she looked right at Ember "Siamang there's a little dragonet wandering around." She pointed right at Ember.

"Oh, really?" Siamang said, turning around to get a look at the much younger dragonet. When she saw Ember she gasped, giving off a high pitched happy squealing sound before running over to pull him into a hug. "Ember! What are you doing here?"

He'd been getting picked up a lot today, Ember really wasn't sure how to feel about that. Siamang was squeezing him a little too tightly for his comfort. "Can't breathe!" The second Ember squeaked out, Siamang loosened her grip on him. 

"Well you obviously know who this is Siamang, so who's the adorable little Skywing?" Siamang's friend asked. 

"Newt this is Ember, Ember this is my clawmate Newt." Siamang said, holding him out towards Newt as if to show him off to the other dragon. Ember waved sheepishly at the Mudwing. "Ember is Peril's little dragonet." Newt's eyes lit up with recognition. Ember supposed Siamang had talked about him before, or momma had. 

"Well he certainly looks like an itty-bitty version of her." Newt said, and Ember had to agree, he looked like momma even if his scales were a browner color than her's. Ember puffed up a little at the comparison. "So what are you doing down here, Ember." 

"Was going to the Prey Center, got lost." 

"By yourself?" Siamang asked, sounding concerned as she sat Ember back down. 

"Was with unca Turtle, then i wasn't" Ember recounted the story to the best of his ability. Newt and Siamang exchanged a quick glance having what looked like a silent conversation that Ember wasn't able to follow. 

"Right, follow us little guy, we'll take you to the Prey Center and find Turtle." Siamang said, clapping her talons together. Newt rolled her eyes and motioned for the dragonet to follow her. Ember followed behind the two attempting to stay as close as possible. 

The pair reached the Prey Center rather quickly. When Siamang turned to speak to Ember she discovered something rather Distressing. The Skywing dragonent wasn't there. "Newt we have a problem." 

"What?" Newt turned around as well. "Oh."

Peril was going to kill them.

* * *

Ember was beginning to think he was cursed, how do you get separated, twice. Was he not paying enough attention? Did he have no sense of direction? He couldn't really know, he did know that these cave tunnels at least looked familiar. Maybe he'd be down this way before, he'd been all over Jade Mountain, but there were just so many tunnels. Not only that but he was alone again and he really didn't expect to run into anyo- 

"Pssst" 

Ember heard a sound coming from a cave up ahead but he couldn't be sure what it was. 

"Pssst, Ember, hey Ember." It didn't take long for Ember to realize that the sound was another dragon whispering at him. Sitting at the lip of the cave that Ember recognised as the Library, and boy was it a relief to know where he actually was, was a small Rainwing dragonet, a little older than him with dark purple scales. 

"Firefly?" Ember was confused, Firefly was his...cousin, or at least that's what his dad had said, that whole conversation had been confusing, but she lived in the rainforest. What on Pyrrhia was she doing here? 

Ember asked her as much, the answer was less than helpful. "Hiding from mom and dad." Ember guessed that meant Firefly's parents were here too, probably for whatever thing had dragged his dad away that morning. 

Ember could have sworn he saw something dart around quickly behind Firefly but before he could mention it she asked what he was doing wandering the tunnels alone. He explained everything that had happened so far today. Firefly listened with rapt attention, nodding along to Ember's story. 

"Right, worry not, favorite cousin!" Firefly said, draping a wing over Ember. 

"I'm your only cousin." 

"Worry not, only cousin!" Ember could only sigh at his cousin's exuberance. "I have a map around here somewhere, I'll get you to the Prey Center." She ran back into the library and returned moments later holding a scroll that she unfolded showing a hand drawn map of the tunnels. "This way!" Firefly said, rolling the map back up and rushing down the tunnel. 

Ember was having trouble keeping up with Firefly. She was just slightly faster than him and it didn't help that he was the tiniest bit shorter than her. He'd just lost sight of her and was about to go down a side tunnel when he felt something grab him by the middle and set him back down away from the side tunnel. When he turned around to see what grabbed him there was nothing there. A moment later he saw Firefly doubling back to get him and the pair continued on their way.

From a particularly shadowy part of the tunnel just a little behind the dragonets Deathbringer watched his daughter and her cousin trek through the tunnels with a smirk. 

* * *

It would be an understatement to say that Turtle was panicking. Luckily he wasn't the only one that was panicking, while looking for Ember he ran into Newt and Siamang. Who apparently had also run into Ember, lost him shortly after and had roped the rest of Quartz Winglet and part of Copper Winglet to look for the missing dragonet. Newt had suggested he wait here, at the Prey Center, in case Ember found his way there on his own while they all looked. Turtle had agreed, but that hadn't lessened the worrying any. 

He hadn't been waiting long when Newt came running up to him slightly out of breath. "Peregrine found him, he wasn't too far from here." Turtle let out a sigh of relief while Newt slumped down exhausted. "Should be here soon." The Mudwing said. 

Newt wasn't wrong, barely a minute passed before Peregrine arrived, the Skywing carrying Ember and another dragonet that Turtle recognized on his back. Peregrine stopped in front of Turtle and ushered the dragonets off.

"Thank you so much Peregrine." Turtle said. 

"Just glad we found them." The Skywing gave him a smile and left, presumably to round up the other searchers. Newt went to follow him, thought better of it and tiredly sat back down. Turtle looked over the dragonet that had finally turned up, who made a good show of looking incredibly sheepish, and Firefly, who Turtle hadn't even realized was here. They both seemed okay at least.

"So, how about we never tell your mother about this." Ember just grinned at him, Turtle sighed there was no way Peril wasn't going to hear about this he supposed. "Hello Firefly." 

"Hi, Turtle." Firefly said and the dragonet walked into the Prey Center without a care in the world. Turtle could have sworn he heard someone else in the room snickering but it hadn't been Ember or Newt. 

"Still want that cow?" Turtle asked. Ember nodded excitedly and ran in, Turtle made sure to keep a closer eye on him this time. Sure the Prey Center was one room, but apparently Ember could get lost even with an escort. 

In the end, Ember still couldn't manage to eat a whole cow. Turtle took the dragonet back home, carrying him the whole way this time, and luckily Peril was completely asleep and he just had to pass off Ember to Clay. After a quick goodbye Turtle went back to his own sleeping cave and resolved to send a letter to his mother asking for one of the harnesses she had made for her daughters. He had a feeling he'd need one if he or anyone else planned to take Ember anywhere. 


End file.
